2 7 Operant Chamber Using Thorndike's law of effect as a starting point, Skinner developed the Operant chamber , or the Skinner box, to study operant conditioning. Walter Dawn/ Photo Researchers, Inc. From The Essentials of Conditioning and Learning, 3 rd Edition by Michael P. Domjan, 2005. Used with permission by Thomson Learning, Wadsworth Division 8 Operant Chamber The operant chamber , or Skinner box , comes with a bar or key that an animal manipulates to obtain a reinforcer like food or water. The bar or key is connected to devices that record the animal’s (rate of) response . 9 Types of Reinforcers Any event that strengthens the behavior it follows. A heat lamp positively reinforces a meerkat’s behavior in the cold. Reuters/ Corbis 10 Shaping Shaping is the operant conditioning procedure in which reinforcers guide behavior towards the desired target behavior through successive approximations . A manatee shaped to discriminate objects of different shapes, colors and sizes. 11 Shaping Application - Minesweeping Rats can be trained to detect buried mines via the scent of TNT. 12 Learning to Bar Press: Shaping through Successive Approximations